Card index



B. G. RAND March 7, 1939.

CARD INDEX Filed Oct. 12, 1957 Benjamz'a Giiand,

Patented Mar. 7, 1939 UNITED STATES CARD INDEX Benjamin G. Rand,Glendale, 0alif., assignor to Remington Rand Inc., Buffalo, N. Y.

Application October .12, 1937, Serial No. 168,630

4 Claims.

This invention relates to improvementsin card indexes and particularlyto constructions where the cards stand on edge in a drawer and areprovided for offsetting relative to one another to bring av marginalportion of each card into visible indexed relation.

The present invention comprehends the provision of clips secured to onemargin of each card of a series arranged in pairs in spaced relation,each provided with slots and projections so that one card may have theprojections of the clips thereon interengaged with the slots in theclips of the next card by flexing the card to engage the projections inthe slots.

The invention provides a clip structure for attachment to the margin ofa card formed from a folded strip of material, so that two clips may bemounted in spaced relation on one margin of a card, each clip having aprojection formed thereon and each formed to provide a slot, so that thetwo projections on the spaced clips of one card may be used to cooperateby slidably engaging in the slots of the clips on another card tointerconnect the cards for limited relative edgewise movement to offsetone card with respect to the other to expose their margins in visibleindexed relation.

The invention includes the provision of a special clip structure-inwhich each clip is formed from a folded strip having the ends of thestrip secured to the margin of the card while the folded portionprojects away from the edge of the card. One side of the folded strip isformed with a removed portion extending from the fold to the edge of thecard to provide a slot between the folded portions of the strip, toreceive a tongue on a similarly constructed strip formed from the foldportion of the strip opposite to that having the removed section. A pairof these clip structures are formed in opposite relation to provideoppositely extending tongues and slots so spaced that the tongues on onecard will slidably engage in the slots of the next card, in such a way,that the tongues being of less width than the length of the slots, thecards may be offset laterally with respect to one another in an edge-Wise direction so the opposite margin of each card will be offset invisible indexed relation.

The invention includes features residing in the details of constructionof the cards and clips to secure the eflicient support and operation ofthe cards in a series interconnected one to the other by means of theclip structures, these detailed features being more particularly pointedout in the following description and claims.

In the drawing: Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a series of cardsinterconnected and offset relative to one another.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the cards arranged in theirnormal position without offsetting so that the upper edges are in thesame horizontal plane.

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of two cards showing how one card is flexedto insert the tongues of the clips into the slots of an adjacent card.

Fig. 5 shows a group of cards in perspective, with several connectedcards offset in visible indexed relation, while another card is shown in16 detached relation but in position to illustrate the manner ofattachment and relation of the parts.

A plurality of index or record cards are each designated with thenumeral I in the drawing. 20 These cards are normally designed to standon edge in a drawer one behind the other and be indexed by guides in awell known manner. With the present invention cards I are interconnectedto one another toform groups of interconnected cards, the last card inthe group being provided with an index tab 2 that also forms a handle bywhich the card may be manually raised up so as to offset all of thecards in the visible index relation illustrated in Fig. 1.

To accomplish this offsetting, each card is provided on the lower marginwith clips 3 and 4 respectively. The clip 3 is. formed oppositely toclip 4. otherwise the construction of each clip is identical. Each clipis formed of a strip of sheet metal or other suitable sheet materialfolded at 5 to provide ends 6 and 1. The ends of this folded strip areengaged on opposite faces of the margin of the card andza tubular rivet8 or other suitable means is usedto rigidly secure the strip to the cardwith the fold portion projecting beyond the edge of the card margin asillustrated.

A portion of the strip section 6 of each clip at one edge thereof isremoved from a point adjacent the edge of the card to the fold portionas indicated at 9. The fold portions provide a slot therebetween sincethey are arranged in the normal position in spaced parallel relation.

Strip sections 1 have portions offset adjacent the edge of the card toprovide attaching tongues Ill. Tongues ID are arranged so that the upperedge of each tongue is aligned with the upper edge of the cut-outportion 9 of each clip and the width of the tongue in each case is lessthan the length of the slot in the clip. The tongues on the clipscarried by each card extend outwardly in opposite directions in parallelrelation to the card and the tongues are offset from the strip sections1 away from the plane of the card a suflicient distance to receive stripsections 5 of other clips between the tongues and the strips from whichthey are formed. Each tongue is formed so that its base or junction withstrip 1 is slightly inwardly of the vertical edge of cut-out 9 in stripsection 6.

By flexing one card intermediate clips 3 and 4 as shown in Fig. 4 thedistance between tongues ID on the pair of clips carried by the card canbe shortened so that it is less than the distance between the outeredges of the cut-out sections in the corresponding clips of an adjacentcard and by this method the tongues can be engaged in the slots formedin the clips of an adjacent card below the edge of the card. The tonguesare formed at the rear face of the card and as a result the rear cardmay be moved upwardly with respect to the next card in front to theextent permitted by the length of the slots in the clips so that whenthe fold portions at the bottom of a pair of clips on one card engagethe lower edges of the tongues on the next adjacent card this upwardmovement of one card in edgewise relation to its adjacent card isarrested. Where a series of these cards are interconnected and therearmost card is moved upwardly in edgewise relation as shown in Fig. 1the cards will be successively offset until they all have correspondingmargins offset in visible indexed relation as shown by Fig. 1.

Excessive build-up by added thicknesses, in addition to that of thecard, is largely avoided in the construction of the character shown inthe present application due to the fact that the projections are housedbelow the lower edges of index cards I in the space between foldsections 6 and I of the clips. This, of course, necessitates that theclips project below the lower margin of the card in order to provide theslots. At the same time the cut-out section in one end portion of theclip enables the other side to form a backing to receive the tongue ofthe adjacent clip when it is interengaged in the slot so as to form aneffective means of guiding the tongue into the slot in attaching onecard to another.

The invention claimed is:

1. A card index, comprising a plurality of cards normally adapted to befiled upright on edge, a pair of clip members secured at one end to amargin of each of said cards in spaced relation and having the oppositeends extending beyond said margin and formed to provide slots beyondsaid margin extending perpendicular thereto, projections on said clipsbeyond said margin for engagement in the-slots of the clips on anadjacent card for connecting said cards, said slots being longer thanthe transverse dimension of said projections and providing for limitedrelative edgewise movement of connected cards for offsetting theopposite margins in visible index relation.

2. A card index, comprising a plurality of cards normally adapted to befiled upright on edge, a pair of strip members for each card foldedabout one margin thereof in spaced relation and secured thereto forsupport solely by said card without other connection, said strip membersof each pair each being formed to provide a slot extending transverselyto said card margin and a projection extending in an opposite directionto a corresponding projection on the other strip member, saidprojections being of less width than the length of said slots and saidcards being flexible to provide for shortening the distance between theprojections on one card for engaging them in the slots of an adjacentcard to interconnect said cards for limited relative edgewise movementto offset corresponding marginal portions in visible index relation.

3. A card index, comprising a plurality of cards, a pair of sheetmaterial clips for each card each formed of a strip folded to provideopposite spaced sections, the ends of said sections engaging oppositefaces of a card margin, said pair of clips being mounted in parallelspaced relation on said card margin, one section of each clip beingformed beyond the card margin of less width than the opposite sectionand providing a slot extending laterally to said card margin betweensaid sections, the slot in one clip extending opposite to the slot inthe other clip, and a projection formed on each clip in said oppositesection, said projections being of less width than the length of saidslots, the projections on said clips extending in opposite directionsand said cards being flexible for shortening the distance between theends of said projections on one card to engage them in the slots of theclips on an adjacent card to interconnect said cards for relativeedgewise displacement to ofiset corresponding margins thereof in visibleindex relation.

4. A card index, comprising a plurality of cards, a. pair of sheetmaterial clips for each card mounted in spaced relation on one marginthereof and having one end of each clip projecting substantially beyondthe edge of said card, each clip havinga slot on one side and a tongueoffset laterally'on the other side beyond said card margin, said tonguesbeing of less width than the length of said slots, the slots and tongueson each clip of a card extending in opposite directions, and the cardsbeing formed of flexible material for the flexing of one card to engagethe projections in the slots of an adjacent card for connecting saidcards for limited relative edgewise movement to arrange correspondingmarginal portions in visible index relation.

BENJAMIN G. RAND.

